Drawing Pencil SketchesNewsletter February 2012

Over the past three months, I've had several comments like "I love to draw but I have no real talent!" You may be surprised to know that we ALL have talent to be creative in any area or form of art.

Have a look at your earliest drawings as a kid, remember you had no inhibitions, just drew with pleasure and did not even think if it was good or bad. You did not try and please your parents or teacher in early grades because it was pure fun to draw and paint!

That creativeness is talent, pure talent—and guess what? We all have it.

Yeah, I know, our talents were stultified by Mrs Right, our art teacher, who told us how to draw with "Trees were not like that and grass is not red!" And so you adjusted to these "Teacher knows best because she is a teacher and she is older." This immediately began to inhibit your creativeness and you felt your drawings were not up to scratch—even though the fridge door at home was plastered with your drawings—with mom and dad thinking they were GREAT (and they WERE!)

But as teacher "Knew best" your thoughts tuned into self-invalidation (putting yourself down as having no talent and dreading that next art lesson.) Not all teachers are like this of course who allow your inert talents to emerge and blossom out.

If you have been one of the unlucky ones who have been suppressed by either teacher or parents or both, then you isolate yourself from them (go into your own space,) get out your sketchbook (you have a sketchbooks don't you?) and start drawing. A good place to start is by doodling. Let your pencil or pen wander all over your paper WITHOUT THINKING about anything. So here, you are not drawing anything specific, all your lines are random. Spend about half an hour doodling then put your sketchbook away and do something else.

Okay, you've had about a day's break from your doodles, take a peek at it and see if you can imagine a face, a house, a tree, a monster or whatever. Now isolate those forms which you think can make up a face or anything. Re-draw that image on a new page but do not try and follow your lines or scribbles exactly, just draw it in more or less, as you see it.

At this stage you should have a CREATIVE drawing...so do an assessment and rate it on a scale of one to ten (ten being top class.) Be honest with yourself and if you feel it is below 5 then do this exercise all over again.

If you are above 5 then start doodling again but now think about something SPECIFIC, like a face, a car or anything. Now do the exercise again once you have doodled this specific thought...put your sketchbook aside for awhile then "rate" it again. If you do this a few times, your creativeness will emerge and when you think it is good please show your friends and showcase it here—on this site!

Your Drawing Partner
Jon

PS: Have fun drawing, I'd love to see your work showcased here. Please do write if you have any comments or questions.

PPS: Don't forget to let me know if you would like the free book on "Drawing for Beginners" a useful guide if you would like the basics on drawing.